WELCOME TO NOWHERE WAS DEVELOPED AS A WORK IN PROGRESS AT THE ONTOLOGICAL-HYSTERIC THEATER (NYC) AND RECEIVED ITS PREMIERE AT THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY (NYC) IN 2007 AS PART OF ITS VISITING ARTIST PROGRAMMING. SUBSEQUENT PERFORMANCES IN 2008: PERFORMANCE SPACE 122 (NYC), VIA FESTIVAL INTERNATIONAL (FRANCE), EXIT FESTIVAL (FRANCE).

All lines of text are spoken softly into microphones, almost as if in a whisper. The impression is that of a voice in the back of your mind, intimate and familiar. The performers never face one another, but instead, always look directly out-as if staring off into the distance. The entire performance feels as if you are overhearing something immensely private and vulnerable.

VIDEO = SMASHED UP TRUCK ON SIDE OF ROAD

... Various Bob Dylan Songs ...

Marquis @ 80%

PRE-SHOW

Onstage is a boxlike structure made of Plexiglas, plywood and steel pipe. Located at the center of this structure is a second, smaller box, big enough inside for just one person to stand. The front of this box is covered by a large two-way mirror and when lit from inside, it resembles a coffin, aphone booth, another world.

In front of this mirrored box, a plywood platform extends a short distance from the rest of the pipe and plexi structure. Its floor is painted with the image of a faded American flag. At the end of this flag is the center of three speaking positions. The other positions flank either side, behind Plexiglas windshields. The fourth speaking position is located inside the mirrored box. [Photo 1, p. 3]

Just above the three speaking positions is another plywood surface, roughly the dimensions of the front of the mirrored box, turned on its side...wide screen, a panorama. During the entire performance, video is projected onto this plywood surface...a dream world that drifts through the minds of the characters we meet onstage.

As the audience enters, the performers lean against walls, as if waiting...as they continue to do the entire performance, when not speaking from one of the four microphone positions inside the box.

BEGINNING OF SHOW

Fade Down House Lights

... Fade-Out Pre-Show Music ...

Fade Down Marquis @ 20%

VIDEO = DRIVING, FRONT SHOT OF HUNTER & DARLA

... Fade-In Blank Horizon ...

Fade Up Red Spot @ Low

Red lights fade up gradually in the mirrored box. Slowly the mirror surface turns transparent to reveal a hitchhiker, murdered years ago on the road. She is surrounded by tattered and stained red fabric. Her clothes have been virtually torn to shreds in what must have been an abandoned act of violence or a catastrophic accident. …

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